It’s the economy – DUH!
Perhaps this is a prediction of things to come on Tuesday.
Column of the Day – Nobel Prize-Winner Edition
Paul Krugman, professor of economics and op-ed columnist for the NY Times, won the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on global trade patterns. His latest column is here, and a meticulously detailed explanation for why he deserves the Nobel is here.
UPDATE – Here’s the professor on the pros and cons of handouts:
Column of the Day – Black Friday Edition
It’s the “Moment of Truth” on Wall Street today. Paul Krugman proposes what should have been done, and what needs to be done this weekend:
But on Wednesday the British government, showing the kind of clear thinking that has been all too scarce on this side of the pond, announced a plan to provide banks with £50 billion in new capital — the equivalent, relative to the size of the economy, of a $500 billion program here — together with extensive guarantees for financial transactions between banks. And U.S. Treasury officials now say that they plan to do something similar, using the authority they didn’t want but Congress gave them anyway.
Bailout Bill Blame
Senator McCain (he of campaign “suspension” fame) blames House Speaker Pelosi’s pre-vote speech for the GOP change of heart on the bailout bill. A closer look shows that representatives in tight races were the ones most likely to vote against it. Those with little chance of losing their seats voted nearly even for or against it.
So much for retiring at 60
Lessee. . . no bailout agreement, and the Dow drops nearly 7% for its biggest one-day point loss in history. Maybe I need to get working on that novel-that-becomes-part-of-English-classrooms-worldwide plan instead.
Would you like $2293.36?
So, the gov’ment wants to spend $700 billion of our taxes to bailout Wall Street. Why not give it to the taxpayers (and their children) instead? Couldn’t you use an extra $2293.36 in the ol’ checkbook?
Economic Crisis Hits NPR
Sort of. From The Onion:
Column of the Day
I don’t agree with Thomas Friedman on a number of issues, but on this one, I’m in his corner. Instead of investing in the future, we’re content with complacency. Key quote from yesterday’s column:
Why would Republicans, the party of business, want to focus our country on breathing life into a 19th-century technology — fossil fuels — rather than giving birth to a 21st-century technology — renewable energy? As I have argued before, it reminds me of someone who, on the eve of the I.T. revolution — on the eve of PCs and the Internet — is pounding the table for America to make more I.B.M. typewriters and carbon paper. “Typewriters, baby, typewriters.”
